The River of Dreams

Today I led a group of 40 campus ministry development ministers in a prayer service I organized for the Catholic Campus Ministry Association's Development Institute in New Haven, CT. Dreams is the service's theme. I hope its message will touch your heart, mind and soul.

Introduction: Dreams come and go in our lives. Far more die than come to reality.
What is in us that allows us to let go of visions that could create new and beautiful worlds? Why do we easily give into barriers? Why do we let ourselves conform and be satisfied with what is? Reaching out to a dream can be risky. It can involve hardships that our imaginations never knew. Our comfortableness can so easily be disturbed.

Opening Song: River of Dreams by Billy Joel

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And its too hard to cross

And even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find what I’ve been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I’m a searcher for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole

I don’t know why I go walking at night
But now I’m tired and I don’t wanna walk anymore
Hope it doesn’t take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is I've been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To the river so deep
I know I’m searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night

I’m not sure about a life after this
God knows I’ve never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That is running to the promised land

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Though the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
Were all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night


A Reading from the Book of Genesis Genesis 29:10-17
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There about it stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendents the land on which you are lying. Your descendents will be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said, “How awesome in this place! There is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Silent Reflection: From a personal, spiritual and ministry perspectives, who spoke to you along the way to help you continue to dream? Who helped you to dream bigger than you ever thought possible?

Left Side: O God, let something essential happen to me –
Something more than interesting
Or entertaining
Or thoughtful.
O God, let something essential happen to me –
Something awesome
Something real.
Speak to my condition, Lord,
And change me somewhere inside , where it matters,
A change that will burn and tremble and heal
And explode me into tears or laughter
Or love that throbs and screams
Or keeps a terrible, cleansing silence
And dares the dangerous deeds.
Let something happen in me which is my real self, God.


A Reading from the Book of Genesis Genesis 37:5-8
Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Men: There will be people who will try to take your dream away from you. Who will be jealous and won’t understand.

Silent Reflection: Who were the people who didn’t believe in your dream? Who placed an obstacle at every opportunity? Who created doubt in the dream God created? What did you learn from them?

Right Side: O God, let something essential and passionate happen to me now.
Strip me of my illusions and self-sufficiency,
of my proud sophistications,
of my inflated assumptions of knowledge and
leave me shivering like Adam and Eve
before the miracle of the natural –
the miracle of this earth
the miracle of You,
that nutures me
that breathes and moves
sees and hears
that works by the most amazing messages
of what and when and how
and that dares to speak the confronting work.


A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 2:19-20
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said, “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Women: God will give you the strength to carry your dream and protect it, even when you don’t understand why or how you can do it.

Silent Reflection: When the dream seems to fail or be too much for you, who or what did God send to make you “get up?”

Left Side: O God, let something essential and joyful happen to me now.
Something like the blooming of hope and faith
Like a grateful heart
Like a surge of awareness
Of how precious each moment is
That now, not next time
Now is the occasion to dare to speak the tender words of:
Thank you
I love you
You’re beautiful and I’m a fool for Christ.

A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 27:19
When Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message, “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

Men: I have to trust to do the right thing. I have to trust to God. When I let go and just depend on Him to lead me, I make the right choices, but often I get caught up in what I want, not what God dreams for me or my ministry.

Women: O Lord, let our dreams soar. Let our inhibitions and fears disappear as we strive to make our hopes come into being. Give us the strength, courage and insight we will need as we work to bring our vision of development into reality.

Men: Let your Spirit guide us in our imaginations and our fantasies so that worries and anxieties will not over come us, for it is only through dreams that the beauty and wonder of Your kingdom will be made known to all. Be with us, Lord, as our minds wander, as we dream Your dreams.

Please share a dream you have for your ministry or personal life.

All: Nothing is impossible if we put aside our careful ways. If we build our dreams with faith – faith in ourselves, faith in our sisters and brothers in Christ, and above all, faith in the Lord God with whom all things are possible. Amen.

What's most profound for me about this prayer service is how Billy Joel's song fits so appropriately for three reasons. First, the spiritual message conveyed through the song's lyrics. Second, how it is applicable to the whole human race regardless of our vocation or occupational choice. Third, from a Scripture perspective, how they both coincide so naturally with each other.

May you always fight and work hard for your dreams. We are the only one that is accountable and responsible for keeping them alive ... or for their death. The choice is yours!